That Was Fast
Little doubt now that the Braves are ready to go with the aforementioned Jordan Schafer in center. For real. This year.
The last impediment was finding somebody who would take Josh Anderson off their hands – he’s out of minor league options. The Tigers accepted, payment in the form of a 25-year old AA-pitcher named Rudy Darrow who has fought back from Tommy John surgery and might be a middle relief candidate sooner rather than later.
But it might as well have been Clarence Darrow. As I understand the way the Bravos’ thinking evolved this spring, it went from 1) Gregor Blanco in front with Anderson as an acceptable alternative and Schafer as a long shot, to 2) Blanco sliding to the back of the pack, to Schafer looking so sharp that they began to try to deal Anderson to clear a path for him before opening day, to 3) a fallback of keeping Anderson for a little while after Opening Day and sending Schafer to keep in shape in Richmond while they continued to try to trade Anderson, to 4) committing to Schafer and resigning themselves to losing Anderson on waivers if necessary.
Anderson has proved himself a superior baserunner, decent centerfielder, and adequate hitter in each of the last two Septembers. But given the Astros’ inexplicable desire to trade for Michael Bourn when they already had a Bourn-like figure in Anderson, and the Braves’ willingness to sacrifice Anderson to give Schafer a clear path, one assumes his own teams have seen weaknesses in his bat that would be soon exposed over a full major league season.
In any event this underscores the Schafer point below. Pure fans, step back and admire what is to come from the kid. Fantasy players, grab him and tell no one of what you have seen this day.
Baseball Nerd 
The AAA team for the Braves USED to be in Richmond (I should know; I live about 2 1/2 hours WNW of there, in the Shenandoah Valley), until this year.
It’s Gwinnett, GA now, Keith. Acknowledge me on “Countdown” tonight for correcting you. LMAO
Gary
Nasty Nats Live Here (and Everywhere)
http://go-nasty-nats.mlblogs.com
UGH! And I just got used to the Yankees having left there. In 1965. Thanks!
Gwinnett-Gwinnett-Gwinnett-Gwinnett…
Pure fans might also want to step back and recall that this kid served a 50-game suspension last year for using HGH. Pure fans love the cheaters.
(I’m not really this cranky. Just having a bad day, I think)
Pure fans might also want to step back and recall that this kid served a 50-game suspension last year for using HGH. Pure fans love the cheaters.
(I’m not really this cranky. Just having a bad day, I think)
I’m not a big fan, to say the least, of your TV show. But we do agree on baseball, which is just as important.
Thanks for the blog and being a fan of baseball.
Darrow played baseball, too?! Golly! Not too many can do the lawyering & the baseball at the same time. BTW, on a “good” day, I remember the starting line – up for the 1984 Cubs. Most days, I “miss” a couple. *&^%$#@! that Leon Durhman anyway!
Jordan Schafer will be a good major league outfielder, and I predict that he will”outgrow” his lead off position, and become more of a Chipper Jones type hitter.
Schafer will need to cut down on his strike outs, which is why the Braves made a mistake in giving up on Anderson.
Josh Anderson will do well with the Tigers this year, and Jordan Schafer will do well with the Braves , but he will hurt them with his growing pains, and he is not a prototype lead off hitter.
The Braves should have let Schafer play one more year down on the farm, and let Josh Anderson be their lead off hitter this year , then trade him next year.
On a side note; why don’t you and all of the talking Heads on the Left, hold Obama accountable for ramping up the Neo-Con’s war in Afghanistan, and dragging his feet in Iraq.
8 years of Bush-bashing for expanding the Evil Empire, and wasting Billions of Dollars on Imperial Wars, and now Obama is doing the same thing.
Think like an Anarchist – Live like a Pacifist, Peace.
I’m seriously thinking of taking him now, Sir… this is too much to think about on a Tuesday afternoon. Great. Just great.
–Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
The Astros have a seeminlgy good knack of wanting to get rid of decent to good players and getting injured last of the rope types. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been good for the Rockies, and I hope they keep it up.
Tom
http://rockymountainway.mlblogs.com
Huh. Just when I was about to wash my hands of the Braves forEVer–I may have to check this out. (But I’ll never forgive them for letting Andruw and Smoltz get away.)
Just when I thought I had worked everything out. Now there’s one more thing I have to look at. Gracias.
I live in Orlando and have Braves Spring Training season tickets. Schafer was clearly the superior player both at bat and in the field. He will make some rookie mistakes but he will help far more than hurt the Braves this year. The real key will be Francouer and the pitching, which both also looked great this Spring.